We, the undersigned, are superintendents, principals, school board members, general counsel, social workers, and other officials from schools and school districts across the country with experience adopting inclusive policies for transgender students. Collectively, we are responsible for the education, safety, and well-being of hundreds of thousands of students across the country, and have extensive experience in the development, implementation, administration, and enforcement of inclusive policies for transgender students in schools.
The undersigned share the view that our obligation as educators is to provide support and respect to all students, including our transgender students. We are motivated to create a safe and welcoming environment for all students and to minimize the harm that stems from singling out transgender students by refusing to recognize their gender identity. Discriminatory policies send a message to the school community that transgender students should be treated differently and put them at serious risk of harassment, bullying, or assault, and drive down their academic performance. Transgender students who try to avoid this stigmatizing treatment by foregoing bathroom use altogether face acute health risks, including dehydration, urinary tract infections, and kidney problems. No student should be subjected to those consequences just because they are transgender.
Discussions about school policy involving transgender students often focus on hypothetical concerns that respecting students’ gender identity, and allowing them to use facilities in accordance with their gender identity, will violate the privacy or “comfort” of other students, and lead to the abolition of gender-segregated facilities such as restrooms and locker rooms altogether. Other commonly voiced concerns include the idea that transgender students might just be “confused,” likely to change their minds about their gender identity, or falsely claiming to be transgender for some nefarious purpose. We have addressed – and in some cases personally grappled with – many of the same concerns. But in our experience, none of those concerns have materialized in the form of actual problems in our schools. We have not experienced problems with policies allowing transgender students to access bathrooms or locker rooms in accordance with their gender identity. Nor have we experienced transgender students or any other students attempting to be dishonest or break the rules. To the contrary, our transgender students simply want to be safe while using school facilities.
Instead, inclusive policies that allow schools to make a reasonable assessment of students’ requests to have their identity respected foster a safer and more welcoming learning environment for all students. Such policies also avoid disrupting the routine social interactions involved in use of communal school bathrooms and other gendered spaces and activities. On the other hand, discriminatory policies that single out transgender students by barring them from facilities that match their gender identity harm the entire school community by modeling discriminatory treatment and put transgender students at risk for the consequences mentioned above.
Although some speculate that policies respectful of all students’ gender identity are disruptive and impinge upon the rights and well-being of students who are cisgender (that is, non-transgender), our experience has shown otherwise: respect for a transgender student’s gender identity supports the dignity and worth of all students by affording all students equal opportunities to participate and learn. Policies that refuse to recognize students’ gender identity are not only contrary to our duties as educators, but are also simply bad public policy.
Signatories:
Thomas Aberli, Principal, J. M. Atherton High School, Louisville, KY
Roger Bourgeois, Superintendent-Director, Greater Lowell Technical Regional School District, Tyngsborough, MA
Judy Chiasson, Program Coordinator, Office of Human Relations, Diversity and Equity, Los Angeles Unified School District, Los Angeles, CA
Jennifer Kubista, Director, Student Life, Tacoma School District, Tacoma, WA
Jeremy Majewski, Principal, Komensky Elementary School, Berwyn, IL
John O’Reilly, Principal, Academy of Arts and Letters, Public School/Middle School 492, Brooklyn, NY
Rudy Rudolph, Equity Department Project Manager, Portland Public Schools, Portland, OR
David Vannasdall, Superintendent, Arcadia Unified School District, Arcadia, CA
If you wish to join this letter, please email Tara L. Borelli, Senior Attorney at Lambda Legal, at tborelli@lambdalegal.org or 470-225-5341. The invitation to join this letter does not create an attorney-client relationship.